Indigenous health organisations unite to improve remote dialysis treatment

Gundimulk Wanambi was forced to leave her home in Yirrkala for dialysis treatment.

When Indigenous woman Gundimulk Wanambi's was diagnosed with kidney disease, it was like being given a life sentence.

The chronic health problem forced her to live away from her community of Yirrkala, which sits about 700 kilometres east of Darwin on the coast in Arnhem Land and had no dialysis service.

"Dialysis is a sickness that [means I will] never return home," she said.

The self-described saltwater woman needs regular dialysis treatment.

In the Northern Territory, as in other states, the service is mostly accessible in regional centres like Darwin or Alice Springs.

But a new partnership between two Aboriginal controlled health organisations means change is afoot.

Alice Springs-based Western Desert Dialysis has joined forces with the Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation in East Arnhem Land, thousands of kilometres away.

The pair have signed a new memorandum of understanding with the shared overarching aim of providing more dialysis services in remote communities.

Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation's director of regional health reform, Paula Myott, said the organisation wanted to focus on health promotion, prevention, management and treatment of renal issues to stop people ending up on dialysis.

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Indigenous health organisations unite to improve remote dialysis treatment